Archive for the ‘The J's’ Category

I talked to SarahK about forty minutes ago. At that time they were thirty miles from the Utah/Idaho border, and approximately 250 miles from their new home in Boise. She sounded so happy and excited! She went on and on about how cold it is and how pretty and how not Florida it is. I’m envious. They’re looking forward to being home.

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I talked to Sarah at lunch time today. She sounded like she was in a much better mood than the other day when I talked to her. It must be because she took out Mr. Shiney and released her aggression on idiots in Oklahoma I talked to her in daylight, and daylight driving is considerably less stressful.

They are almost out of Oklahoma and into the wasteland beautiful state of Kansas.

Texas has been removed from their itinerary. Bummer. I know how Sarah was looking forward to visiting with her family.

I’m glad to hear their trip, at least so far today, has been uneventful.

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I missed a couple calls from SarahK today. Odd, since my phone is screaming loud. She left me a couple voice mail messages, and I just called her back. They are in Monroe, Louisiana. Sarah had nothing good to say about the bumpy roads in Mississippi. (How bumpy are they?) So bumpy that the SUV they’re towing behind the U-haul was sufficiently jostled off the trailer and was only held on by the just in case chains.

Sarah was highly offended by the four or five hours rain. It sucks to drive in the rain. With animals. She mentioned that Omen injured her and Rowdi managed to completely chew through a seat belt. Bad dog.

The U-haul has been having engine issues. The oil light came on, but after adding oil, the light refuses to turn off. Sarah said the truck got stuck. Fortunately a truck driver took pity on Sarah and maneuvered the U-haul out of the stuck spot for the J’s.

Sarah sounded exhausted and overwhelmed. I wish I could give her a hug and take away her stresses.

Please, if you’re the praying sort, remember Frank J. and SarahK in your prayers. The weather report shows snow on their upcoming route, and that’s stressing them out even more.

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Special note to Sarah’s faithful reader Jim: I created a “the j’s” category as you requested.

Sarah called me about twenty minutes ago. They are West of Tallahassee. Or is it North? Whatever. She wanted me to know there are trees other than palm trees in Florida. I don’t believe her.

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So, SarahK called me last night.

Me: Hey! Where are you guys? (see, because they were starting their delayed road trip from Melbourne to Idaho Thursday morning)
Sarah: We’ve made it all the way to Melbourne, FL!!
Me: You haven’t left yet?!
Sarah: We might be exhausted by the time we get to Orlando (an hour away). Can we crash at your place?
Me: Of course. I’ll force feed you some left over turkey.
Sarah: We’re hoping to get as far as Tallahassee tonight.
Me: Okay, so I’ll see you in an hour?
Sarah: No.

A little later…

Sarah: Hey, can you go online and look up some directions for us?
Me: Sure.
Sarah: we missed our exit and don’t want to turn around. How do we get to the turnpike from here?
Me: Turn around and go back to the exit you missed.
Sarah: I think we can get there if we take 50.
Me: Yes, yes you can, but you’ll regret that decision. Traffic lights the whole way, it’s a very, very long drive before you reach the turnpike, and it takes you through the rape and murder district.
Sarah: Oh.

They never showed up here last night, so I have to assume they made it beyond Orlando.

UPDATED: they’re packing up from staying overnight in Ocala. That’s so not Tallahassee. I do not envy their road trip.

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I talked to SarahK at lunchtime today. They have not yet finished loading up the vehicles, but they’re almost done. They found new homes for the furnishings that they were unable to pawn off on us. They could be on the road this evening, but they will probably stay one more night at their home to get a good night’s sleep before starting their road trip tomorrow morning. They think they will encounter very little traffic tomorrow as most people should already be at their destinations celebrating the holiday with family and friends. The only down side: if they wait until tomorrow, they will likely miss seeing Sarah’s dad.

I’m still thinking happy thoughts for the J’s. I’m so sad they’re leaving, but pleased for them that they’re getting out of Florida.

They have been without internet since sometime yesterday, so it’s not that they’re ignoring you, they just planned poorly prematurely cut off their internet.

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SarahK called me a little earlier.

SarahK: Hey, do you guys want anything of ours?
Me: ummm…
SarahK: Because we’re almost out of room in the Uhaul, and we still have a lot of stuff.
Me: Sure, we’ll take the pool table and the television.
SarahK: No, we’re taking those. They’re already in the truck. How about a coffee table?
Me: No, thanks. But let me know if you change your mind about the pool table.

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One of the booths at KSC over the weekend was taking free pictures. Here we are:

At the space station with the J’s

spaceman sherlock

free floating

We went back on Saturday with RTY:

she doesn’t look thrilled to be an astronaut.

(I wonder which hurricane that is churning off the coast of Florida?)

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We had such a good time yesterday with Frank and Sarah at Kennedy Space Center that we had to take RTY there today. Here are pictures from the two days.

Looking at the 3-D panorama of Mars

There was an air show going on this weekend. The Thunderbirds.

snake

Space Ship One

Ready to ride the Shuttle Launch Experience.

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Ladies and gentlemen: the Lovely and Talented SarahK:

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verily, i am amused.

(don’t be too critical, I know I suck. But I’ve had a cold all week and a cough.)

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We spent probably six or so hours with Frank and Sarah today. I think it was a good time. Yes, we four adults were mean and did not allow RTY to play the Wii at all. Frankly, I cannot think of a better punishment than to play video games in front of a child and not allow them to play. We only played for a little while.

Sarah cooked us yummy food. She made some pot roast and a yummy potato soup with coconut milk instead of milk.

Side note, sherlock and I were just talking about today. He said that RTY whispered to him that the soup had coconut in it, and she hates coconut. He told her she had to try the soup. She ate her entire bowl, so either we have raised her to be polite and eat what is put in front of her, or it turned out she liked the soup. Either way, I was pleased she cleaned her plate and I never once had to tell her to keep eating. (We girls ate at the table in the kitchen while the boys ate on the couch.) Sarah also made gluten free bread. It was fabulous. I had three slices, RTY also had three slices.

We karaoked after lunner. I heart karaoke. I have several videos. They’re large and will take time for me to upload. But they’ll be appearing in time.

Thanks for having us over, Frank and Sarah.

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when we’re on the way to see the J’s, SarahK calls me when we’re almost there and tells me we can’t come yet. Well, we’re leaving here in a few minutes. So, Sarah, in 40 minutes you should call me and tell me we can’t come!

You kids have fun today.

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Yay! That’s a great way to start the weekend. Congratulations!

(UPDATED: link fixed)

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This is the part of the blog where I ramble about my inane weekend activities and you read along anyway.

After finding out my neighbor died five months ago and completing yard work (while I mowed, sherlock took a chain-saw to the hedge along the new fence. Bye bye hedge!), we showered. Wow, exciting. Stryker arrived around 11, just as we finished yard work. I can’t vouch for his activities while we showered; I’m certain he was up to no good, though. I was also communicating via email (I heart email — it lessens the amount of time I have to spend on the phone) with SarahK about our afternoon’s activities. SarahK and Frank J. arrived at Pereiraville around 145p. I showed off the fabulous paint job in my master water closet, and then we headed out.

We headed out to the Loop because there’s a Chipotle right across the parking lot from the theater. Sarah was displeased with my decision to take pictures during lunch and provided this gem in protest:

Fortunately, Frank was there to rein his woman in and teach her how to behave in public:

Sarah had to wear a wrist brace the rest of the day; we all blamed Carpal Tunnel. After lunch, we went over to the theater to watch Transformers.

I was expecting to hate the movie. Perhaps going in with such low expectations helped, because I really thought is was a decent picture. There was a line right at the end that gave me an eye sprain from how emphatically I had to roll my eyes, but the action was good, it had a lot of humor, and there were robots kicking each other’s asses. A good summer action flick.

After the movie, we headed over to the tourist district to visit the Kwik-E-Mart. As promised, I have all my pictures posted here. A big Thank You to Amanda for emailing me while I was in Tennessee about the location of the Orlando Kwik-E-Mart.

That’s all youse guys want to hear about, right? You don’t want to hear about SarahK’s passive aggressive driving techniques, or our trip to Gluten Free heaven grocery store, do you?

SarahK posted her recap last night. It’s very funny.

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